The new phrase feature is something that I’m very excited about, but I think there’s a huge problem with it. From what I can tell, there’s really no reason to attach phrases to keyzones, limiting such a brilliant feature. It makes it almost impossible to use an instrument melodically, and forces sample-style triggers. For instance, if I have an instrument that I want to use to make various arpeggios for use in multiple keys, the keyzones get eaten up in no time. Juggling the placement of phrases across portions of octaves is really frustrating and could be alleviated easily.
Here is what I propose - Treat Phrases Like Instrument Presets
This way each phrase would have access to the whole keyboard. They can be presented as a list, just like instruments have. The preset can be called using an effect command (or given their own row like vol/pan/delay). This could help organize phrases as well with more room for labeling.
Famitracker has something similar to this. It’s “instruments” are more like phrases in Renoise. They reference envelope data but aren’t limited to note ranges and you can apply them on they fly. This image might help http://famitracker.com/images/ftScrSequence2.png
Does this make sense? Is there any reason not to? Is there any benefit for how set up the way it is?
If you read the topics above, you’ll see the same arguments being raised.
The current keyboard mode has it’s benefits, too. For example, placing different rhythms closely to one another on a keyboard and triggering them using the real-time quantize. So whatever we do, should be able to contain the existing mode + this new “pattern mode”.
Famitracker has something similar to this. It’s “instruments” are more like phrases in Renoise. They reference envelope data but aren’t limited to note ranges and you can apply them on they fly. This image might helphttp://famitracker.com/images/ftScrSequence2.png
In Famitracker, each pattern seems to have it’s own index, not shared between instruments but simply reusable within the same track in the song
Unless I’m mistaken, this seems the same as using aliased slots in the Renoise pattern matrix?
Nice, thanks for the reply. I figured there must be something out there but couldn’t find anything when I did a search. I understand about the close proximity for triggering samples now, though, especially in live scenarios. Hopefully this is a feature that will be considered for the near future. I’m realizing now that a big reason for why I don’t use Renoise for more projects is because I’m daunted by the prospect of managing potentially dozens of instruments . I make chiptune music (hence Famitracker) so I only use a handful of samples, but with several variations on each sample. Thanks, again.
